Innovation is hard. Or rather, successful innovation is hard. There’s no shortage of innovation that doesn’t prosper – 80% of all new product development fails, according to Nielsen. So, anything that can improve those odds has to be worth a look.
For Johnson & Johnson (J&J) Consumer Health, the issues are even more complex than for the average CPG manufacturer, with innovation efforts being hedged about by various regulatory and technical constraints and the need for lengthy, and expensive, clinical trials. This results in a slower pace of innovation and high dropout rates, but the pressure to innovate is constant,...